Christmas 2012 www.wimbledonpark.com Established 1904 W. A. GARDNER & SON Quality Traditional Butchers 157 Arthur Road, 020-8946-2215 We are now taking orders for your Christmas Fare Finest Bronze FREE RANGE Turkeys. Free Range Geese & Chickens. Scotch Aberdeen Angus Pasture Reared Beef Free Range Pork, Additive-Free, supplied to us direct from the farm. Venison , Wild Boar, Ducks & Game. We also stock a large selection of Free Range Eggs - Soups Sauces - Pickles - Preserves - Pastas - Cheese Home made free range pork sausages. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. From all at Gardners Butchers 2 Christmas edition 2012 Contents Cover photo courtesy of Andrew Wilson from his new book Wild About Wimbledon (see Page 38) Chairman’s Report 4 & 5 Plan of Wimbledon Park Hall 6 Join The Friends of Wimbledon Park 8 & 9 Crime Figures 10 & 12 The Village Hall Gallery 14 Merton Residents Healthcare forum 16 Wimbledon Park Primary/Durnsford Rec. 18 Join the WPRA 20,21 Interesting Walks 22 Wimbledon Park Safer Neigbourhoods Team 24 Diamond Jubilee in Stroud Road 26 Christmas message from St Luke’s 28 Museum of Wimbledon 30, 36,37 Friends of Wimbledon Park — update 32 & 34 Wild about Wimbledon 38 Committee list 40 Index of Advertisers 42 All advertising enquiries to: Kathy Blackburn on 020 8946 3957 Email: [email protected] Editorial help needed. Contact Iain Simpson on 020 8947 1301 email: [email protected] 3 Chairman’s Report Wimbledon Park Hall The steelwork has gone up remarkably quickly and we can now see the building outline properly. We understand the building might be completed by the Autumn of next year. In the meantime we will be making appropriate preparations for when we ultimately take over the ground floor premises. On page 6 you will find a plan of the ground floor which includes the Hall, cafe area, kitchen and toilets. The picture on Page 7 is a computer generated image of what the completed building should look like. We have already had some inquiries about letting the Hall and expect interest to increase as the building progresses. We are happy to take expressions of interest in long term letting arrangements as well as short term. However, until we have progressed our discussions with the Council (from whom we will be obtaining the lease) to the next stage, we cannot give confirmation of prices or make any firm commitments. We expect that situation to change within the next 3 months. If you are interested in finding our more about the plans for the Hall and would like to discuss possible future letting, you can email me on [email protected] or call me on 07836 361 782. AGM report We were pleased to welcome a good number of residents to the meeting and welcome Jane Plant, Volunteer Co-ordinator of the Tree Warden Group as guest speaker. The Chairman’s report was made deliberately short on the basis that most important issues are covered in the newsletter. However I was pleased to report that our campaign to have Kenilworth Green (opposite the bottom of Kenilworth Avenue) deleted from the Council’s list of sites for possible develop- ment, has been successful. I have had a letter from the Council confirming that the area will be protected as an ‘open space’. Since then we have had discussions with the Highways Department who have agreed to do some necessary tree work which will open up the space considerably and allow us to undertake some suit- able planting; in particular replace what was destroyed by the developer of the adjacent property. We were grateful for the attendance at the meeting of the Architects for the ‘Hall’ , H&C Architects LLP, who gave a short presentation on the current position of the building. I would like to thank those committee members and other residents who contrib- uted to making the AGM an enjoyable and successful evening. International Evening Despite what looked like a lack of interest in the early stages of planning, in fact it turned out to be a very successful evening. About 50 people enjoyed a very good evening with a huge variety of very tasty food from around the world; an immensely sociable atmosphere and some very enthusiastic dancing! A wonder- ful display of classical Indian dancing was provided by some younger members of the Modasia family and John Bilsand and Pauline did a great job of instructing us on some well known Scottish Dances. Lots of people contributed to the 4 success of the evening but special thanks to Veronica Sarkhel who was the main organiser and inspiration. Wimbledon Park—Car Park Extension As many of you will know, the Council have applied for planning permission to make permanent the so called temporary car park inside the park at the Revelstoke gate. The original application was made in June but as a result of the massive wave of objections they changed the application by amending the Design and Access statement and producing a ‘Transport report’. We submitted objections on both occasions. Our objections are based on what we consider to be strong planning grounds given the fact that the present temporary car park, by its hard core base, is in fact a permanent structure and is a breach of the Council’s own planning rules (this has been admitted by the Plan- ning Department) and also is totally contrary to the Council’s newly adopted ‘Core Strategy’. Furthermore the park is a historically important ‘open space’ and listed grade II* by English Heritage. It is also in a Conservation area and as a result re- quires much greater consideration. The Council has not provided any evidence that additional parking is necessary. As parking is free, it is clear to many local residents who are in the park on a daily basis, that there are people taking advan- tage of the free parking and not actually using the park. One can only surmise that the Council seems to be ignoring its own planning rules perhaps in the hope that it might, in some way, help towards offsetting the cuts in its Greenspaces budget. Another disgraceful example of this was the recent attempt by the Green- spaces department to tear up the grass surrounding the War Memorial in the Village, without any consultation. We understand they hoped to save money on grass maintenance by putting down tarmac instead! If you would like a copy of our objections just email me and I will send you a copy. Happy Christmas 5 PLAN OF WIMBLEDON PARK HALL COMPLEX 6 7 Friends of Wimbledon Park ‘Friends of Wimbledon Park’ has been formed as a result of extensive discussions between the Wimbledon Park Residents’ Association, the Southfields Grid Resi- dents’ Association and the Wimbledon House Residents’ Association. These are the main Residents’ Associations which surround Wimbledon Park. The reasons for forming the new group are:- • to provide a proper forum for discussing the wide range of issues that concern local residents and regular Park users, and • to provide a formal representative group for discussing these issues with the Park owners, managers and other interested organisations. The objects of the Friends are for the public benefit:- • to secure the preservation, protection and improvement of Wimbledon Park (“the Park”) as a place of historic and ecological interest and beauty; • to promote the conservation of the natural plant and animal life of the Park and, in particular, its retention as a natural habitat for wildlife; • to educate the public in the history, natural history and other aspects of the Park; • to support the implementation of a Conservation Management Plan for the Park; • to acknowledge that the Park provides valuable resources for active and passive public recreation and that such pursuits can and should exist side-by - side with the heritage values of the Park; • to acknowledge that the Park, through its size, character, accessibility and facilities, has special features which should be enjoyed by people from this part of south-west London. For the benefit of Park users:- • to report back at regular intervals to local residents and members on the Park owner’s plans and upkeep of the Park; • seek and maintain a constructive and positive working relationship with the Park owners. Those local residents who wish to join as members of the Friends of Wimbledon Park may do so by completing the Application Form on the next page and forwarding to one of the addresses listed. Those who include their e-mail address and tick as appropriate will receive a copy of the Friends’ Executive Committee Minutes and, from time to time, other important information relating to Park issues. Please note: unless you supply an email address with the application, we are unable to acknowledge receipt. 8 FFrriieennddss OOff WWiimmbblleeddoonn PPaarrkk To join the ‘Friends of Wimbledon Park’ (FOWP) please complete the following: Title ………Forename…………………………Surname………………......................................* Title……….Forename…………………………Surname………………………………………....** Corporate name………………………………………………………………………………………. Address ……………………………………………………………………………............................ ………………………………………………………………………………………………………....... Post Code ………………………………………Application Date………………………………... Email*** ………………………………………………………..Phone:……………………………… **If young adult add date of birth here……………………………….. **Family add any children’s names under 16 years on back or separate sheet with date of birth. ***Would you like to be included on an email list for FOWP updates & information? YES/NO Please circle your interests: Trees / Plants / Wildlife / Birds / Sport / Dogs / Kids / Other…………………… I can offer help with: Catering / Stewarding at events / Secretarial / Gardening / Other……………………….. Annual subscription rates (circle selection) Individual £5 Family £8 Young Adult £1 CORPORATE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATE £50.00 Your details will be kept on computer solely for administration purposes Payment Options: a) Cheque – made payable to ‘Friends of Wimbledon Park’ Delivered or posted, with this application form, to:- The Chairman (FOWP), Nick Steiner, 116 Clonmore Street, SW18 5HB FOWP Application form MAY 2012 WIMBLEDON PARK ALLEGATION METHOD LOCATION DATE TIME DATE TO TIME FROM FROM TO Att.